MANILA – Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV called for an investigation into government spending on an information campaign during the Philippines’ ASEAN chairmanship last year.
Trillanes, a critic of the Duterte administration, cited a May 9 news report that the Commission on Audit found anomalous the P647.11-million information caravan of the Presidential Communications Operations Office’s Commission on Media Affairs and Strategic Communications.
The state agency needed not spend this much for a campaign since it was the task of local information officers to disseminate news on the ASEAN, the news report stated.
The PCOO should “publicly explain” the disbursement of funds, Trillanes said in proposed Senate Resolution No. 735, which he filed Tuesday.
The “One ASEAN, a Global Player” information campaign, headed by PCOO Undersecretary Noel Puyat, was geared toward greater awareness and understanding necessary for the building of a regional community.
“There is an immediate need to look into the alleged irregularities in the disposition of PCOO’s budget and its irregular expenditures for the aforementioned information caravan to ensure that government funds are legally and properly allocated, directed and spent toward the sole purpose for which the funds were allocated,” said Trillanes./PN
